Sunday, May 9, 2010

More proof that police are fudging the numbers

Two years ago, a police officer in a Brooklyn precinct became gravely concerned about how the public was being served. To document his concerns, he began carrying around a digital sound recorder, secretly recording his colleagues and superiors.

He recorded precinct roll calls. He recorded his precinct commander and other supervisors. He recorded street encounters. He recorded small talk and stationhouse banter. In all, he surreptitiously collected hundreds of hours of cops talking about their jobs.

Made without the knowledge or approval of the NYPD, the tapes—made between June 1, 2008, and October 31, 2009, in the 81st Precinct in Bedford-Stuyvesant and obtained exclusively by the Voice—provide an unprecedented portrait of what it's like to work as a cop in this city.

They reveal that precinct bosses threaten street cops if they don't make their quotas of arrests and stop-and-frisks, but also tell them not to take certain robbery reports in order to manipulate crime statistics. The tapes also refer to command officers calling crime victims directly to intimidate them about their complaints.

As a result, the tapes show, the rank-and-file NYPD street cop experiences enormous pressure in a strange catch-22: He or she is expected to maintain high "activity"—including stop-and-frisks—but, paradoxically, to record fewer actual crimes.

This pressure was accompanied by paranoia—from the precinct commander to the lieutenants to the sergeants to the line officers—of violating any of the seemingly endless bureaucratic rules and regulations that would bring in outside supervision.

I have a great respect for the NYPD, but I really believe that they ignore real crimes bc of these policies. I heard teens throw bricks through a local storefront late at night. I ran out and saw the kids run down the black and had a good idea of the houses they ran into and what they looked like. Called the cops. They said they couldnt prove anything and drove away. Store owner had to pay thousands to. Store owners had to pay thousands to pay for the windows. Punks slept well.

"I ran out and saw the kids run down the black and had a good idea of the houses they ran into and what they looked like. Called the cops. They said they couldnt prove anything and drove away. Store owner had to pay thousands to. Store owners had to pay thousands to pay for the windows. Punks slept well."

That's terrible that they got away with vandalism.

Everyone should have security cameras around their property - it's costly $2,500 plus for a good system with computer set up. In a case like this - the cops would have no choice but to follow through.

I with with a retired Emergency services NYPD sargeant. And he said that during the Puerto Rican parade, NYPD officers are instructed not to make any arrests unless the crime is serious; rape, assault (stabbing)or murder.(Only crimes that blood shed) No arrest for muggings, assault, robberies threats property damage - NYPD higher ups want it to appear as if there is control.

I agree that security cameras would have helped. But how much of a burden do we want to place on small businesses. Maybe cops should just do their jobs. Sometimes they might have to knock on a door. Real tuff stuff.

This "cop" didn't do this because he was so concerned with public safety.He is another do nothing who thought he could come to work,ride around in a radio car and look at women,eat,shop,etc.The typical malcontent in the nypd.Does the nypd fudge numbers,absolutely.Does every cop know this,absolutely.Let me see his activity for the last year.I can guarantee he did virtually nothing.

what alarms me is that professional criminals know more about law enforcement problems than the average citizen. They use the obstacles to their advantage, so the criminals can continue to victimize.

Fabulous article, as was the one about NYC gangs in our neighborhoods. Hats off to Mr. Rayman.

The serious long term issue has been the management of NYPD allowing cops to drink to the point of wet brain and still remain armed with loaded weapons out on the streets. Same thing with drug addicts, lots of coke heads in the NYPD.

It comes down to this, the brass do not care about the rank and file. The day that a drunk/drugged cop turns their service revolver on a supervisor is the day that they will cough up some care and finally do something. Such as take the department issued revolver away and get the sick and suffering into rehab.

You don't think that this has happened many times over in every single police precinct in NYC?

There have been multiple suicides and questionable deaths by friendly fire of police officers. These stories are quickly squelched in the press. When all of a sudden feel good NYPD pieces hit the papers, I can tell that something gruesome must have happened.

The cops in the 111th are trying to rack up traffic tickets by picking on women. They try to set you up, but these young plainclothes guys backed down when I stated what really happened. This happened to me recently on Bell Blvd.near 42nd Ave. and to a friend near the Cross Island Parkway and Union Tpke.

Spotted a piece of Queens Crap in your community?

Please note

Italicized passages and many of the photos come from other websites. The links to these websites are provided within the posts.

Why your neighborhood is full of Queens Crap

"The difference between dishonest and honest graft: for dishonest graft one worked solely for one's own interests, while for honest graft one pursued the interests of one's party, one's state, and one's personal interests all together." - George Washington Plunkitt

Sites that kick ass:

The above organizations are recognized by Queens Crap as being beneficial to the city as a whole, by fighting to preserve the history and character of our neighborhoods. They are not connected to this website and the opinions presented here do not necessarily represent the positions of these organizations.

The comments left by posters to this site do not necessarily represent the views of the blogger or webmaster.